A SOUTH AFRICAN IRON INDUSTRY: PROSPECJ'S 



AND POSSIBILITIES. 



By Prof. George Hardy Stanley, A.R.S.M.. M.I.M.E., 



M.I.M.M., E.I.C. 



One of the greatest assets of any country is a stable iron 

 and steel industry, and all who have the welfare of South 

 Africa at heart must surely desire to see such an industry estab- 

 lished. 



Obviously, one of the \-ery first considerations to be taken 

 into account in this connection is the value of iron and steel 

 imported, and reference to the x\nnual Statements of Trade and 

 Shipping for the Union shows that the total is verv large — 

 nearly 63/ millions sterling. 



Taking the figures for 191 3 — the last year undisturbed Ij^ 

 abnormal conditions due to the war — it is found that the follow- 

 ing are the figures relating to imported goods or materials wholly 

 or very largely composed of iron and steel : 



i 

 Iron and steel, raw or partly manufactured 946.275 

 Hardware and cutlery and iron manufac- 

 tures, N.O.D 1,704,241 



Fencing material 593,542 



Machinery, except locomotives 2,842,597 



Railway and tramway material 308,110 



£6,394,76 



■» 



()f this total, roughly half a million sterling relates to 

 articles which are apparently quite outside the possibility of 

 South African manufacture for a long while ahead, but of the 

 remainder it is probable that a considerable portion could be 

 made here, if not with existing facilities, then at anv rate in 

 the near future. 



Terrible as such an expression of opinion may ap])ear. it 

 is nevertheless the case that the war has not been an unmitigated 

 calamity so far as this country is concerned : many new indus- 

 tries have arisen, and have obtained a footing, with every pro- 

 spect, in many cases, of a successful future ; and undoubtedly 

 much more could and would have been done were it not for the 

 shortage and ver\- high prices of the raw material, caused also 

 by the war. 



This is markedly the case in the engineering and allied 

 trades employing iron and steel, for almost without exception 

 foundries are short of pig-iron, and the present price is pro- 

 hibitive for the manufacture of many items for which there Ls 

 great demand. 



If only pig-iron were available at reasonable price, the 

 quantity which could be ab.sorbed is without doubt several times 



